‘The longer this goes, the harder it gets’: Industry scrambles as Labor agonises over immigration

The federal government’s sweeping changes to Australia’s migration system could be pushed back up to a month, with industry groups seizing on the delay to lobby Labor against reducing the number of temporary workers in Australia.

The National Farmers Federation and the Australian Construction Association, peak bodies that represent industries that rely on imported labour, said the plan to scale back immigration appeared to be driven by politics rather than practicalities and could have damaging effects on their industries.

The intensity of their lobbying is a sign of the economic and business sensitivities that Labor is dealing with in its plan to change the migration system without jeopardising key industries.

Labor will attempt to restore public confidence in the migration system as One Nation’s public support surges, although the minor party again appeared confused over its policy on Tuesday, with Senator Malcolm Roberts referring to “negative” migration rather than Pauline Hanson’s recent clarification of a 130,000 net intake.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke’s proposal for reducing migration levels has not returned to cabinet for debate since a discussion in the expenditure review committee, led by deputy prime minister Richard Marles, put the changes on ice earlier this month. In that meeting, ministers expressed concern the proposal was not watertight and had not worked through all the economic and budget consequences.

Labor ministers have played down the dispute and the delay, but Opposition Leader Angus Taylor this week accused the government of “brawling within their team” over the issue.

“They can’t agree, and that’s why the numbers have consistently come in above target,” Taylor said.

Asked if the changes to migration policy were sorted during a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said: “No, we won’t be finalising that today.”

“Migration policy though, we’ve finalised our numbers. We’re headed to [net overseas migration of] 225,000 in two years’ time,” Albanese said. “We have a series of plans in place. There’s more work to do and we’ll work on that and make announcements at [the] appropriate time.”

This masthead reported that Burke wanted to boost compliance by sending out more immigration officers to track down and deport overstayers, while other reports from the ABC said Burke was considering restricting family visas, as well as the work and appeal rights of asylum seekers.

But a keynote speech announcing those changes was cancelled just days before the scheduled address at the National Press Club on August 6.

Three Labor MPs, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak publicly, said the delay in the announcement was likely to stretch until mid-September.

“Industry has gotten hold of it and said how badly this will hurt them. They are going bananas,” one MP said.

“Everyone has used the extra time to prosecute the case for why they should not be impacted. The longer this goes, the harder it gets.”